


Snapshots

by someoneyoucantstand



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Fluff, I cried real tears, M/M, Married Couple, i cried, im so sorry, snapshots of a relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 15:37:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6571843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someoneyoucantstand/pseuds/someoneyoucantstand
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry Allen and Hartley Rathaway have had such a good life together, full of snapshots.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshots

**Author's Note:**

> send in more prompts for any Flash or Legends of Tomorrow relationship here:  someoneyoucantstand 

Barry Allen and Hartley Rathaway first met following Hartley's attempt at destroying Central City. Obviously not in the position to be friendly at the time, Barry and the Team Flash locked Hartley in the cortex and left him there. Following his little escapes and Barry almost going deaf twice, he hadn't expected to see Hartley again. Figured he'd leave town, try something new.

Not seeing Hartley lasted for a while, with Team Flash getting on with their lives, trying to defeat Zoom, taking down any metahuman's they came in contact with. Eventually though, Barry had to go back in time, back to when he had first met the young Hartley Rathaway. Expecting everything to go smoothly, he hadn't taken into account what would happen if the timeline was altered.

He certainly didn't expect for 2016 Hartley Rathaway to be kind and a willingly helpful ally to the team.

As time moved onwards, the Team called Hartley in more and more, asking for help with little things here and there until it became clear that he was longer an ally, but instead an actual member of the team that showed up every day.

With each day that Hartley stayed at Star Labs, Barry began seeing things in Hartley that he hadn't actually expected to have seen. He and Barry had more things in common then thought. Some similarities stood out clearly; a love of science, a still lingering idolisation of Harrison Wells - despite all he did, the need to laugh at the stupid alter ego names Cisco came up with. However, there were things that came out as time went on; they both preferred vanilla ice cream over chocolate, they both secretly had a guilty pleasure of musical theatre.

 

Their first date came a year after Barry changed the timeline resulting in their new and improved Hartley.

A national tour of a musical they both liked, Spring Awakening, was coming to Star City. Hartley, visibly excited about musical, waved two tickets to the show in Barry's face.

"C'mon, Barry. I know it's your dirty little guilty pleasure. You're not going to make me go by myself are you?" Barry had rolled his eyes and expected the invite, the two heading for a weekend visit to Star City.

The show was as good as they both knew it was going to be, with Hartley's face lighting up in emotions as the storyline moved on. When Barry looks back at those two hours, he can't help pin point that as the moment he thought Hartley was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen, with eyes bright as Melchior continued the story.

Barry could easily fall deep.

"Was this a date?" Hartley asked him as the two walked out of the theatre. There was a light fall of snow that fluttered onto the street, with odd flakes landing in both Barry and Hartley's hair. Barry stopped and looked at Hartley.

"The sexual awakening of German teens... wouldn't say that was romantic enough. Would you?" Barry asked.

Hartley grinned and shook his head, letting his eyes fall to the almost white path. "Pretty romantic for them." Hartley looked up and smiled and Barry could have sworn his heart stopped beating for a second. "But seriously, I thought that maybe we could use this weekend to, you know..." Hartley trailed off.

Barry smiled and reached for Hartley's hand, pale and cold for the weather. Barry guided his hand into his, fingers lacing. "At least let me pay for dinner - something more than a diner. Maybe then we can count it as a date."

 

They didn't kiss on their first date.

In fact, it took them a while. Following their date in Star City, and a few more in Central, their first kiss came one night during a late stay at STAR Labs. The Team were scattered trying to think of a way to defeat the latest metahuman - _"Barry, she can mind control anything. ANYTHING, Barry. You can't just run at her"_ \- with Caitlin in her office thinking of ways to easily reverse the affects of the mind control should one of them be taken under, Cisco making a late night run to Big Belly Burger, and Hartley and Barry sat working on a mind blocking helmet similar to those used on Grodd.

"Why are you starring at me?" Hartley mumbled as he tinkered with a small piece of wired metal. Barry said nothing, instead following Hartley's eyes as they made their way up to meet Barry and his stupid grinning face. "Okay...?" The silence from before fell over them again as Hartley began working again, hoping to get as much as he could done before sunrise.

Moments later, Barry's voice splintered the silence with, "Can I kiss you?", causing Hartley's hands to freeze, the metal falling to the hardwood floor, an echoing _'clink'_ following it.

"W-what?" Hartley stammered.

Barry got up from the stool he was seated on and closed the small distance that sat between him and Hartley. Their foreheads pressed together as Barry cupped Hartley's face. "Can I kiss you?" He asked again.

Hartley quickly nodded and almost as quick, he felt Barry's lips on his. His lips, as soft as they looked, tasted like metal pen Barry had been chewing on early. Not such a romantic taste as what other people have, with cherries or strawberries or chocolate, but Hartley felt his heart racing - _because he was kissing Barry Allen, THE FLASH. He was kissing him right in the middle of STAR Labs_ \- as he pushed his lips harder onto Barry's.

The kiss became heavier as Hartley left one hand pressed against Barry's chest - _was it going as fast as his? Was he as nervous?_ \- whilst the other one made its way through Barry's brown hair, running through every strand, getting tangled. Hartley felt Barry's thumb tracing his cheek bone as Har-

"Hey, guys. You got any further with the- oh!"

 

It took Hartley less than half an hour to find the perfect ring.

After almost two years together, the couple now shared a flat, a dog named Jet, and Hartley made regular appearances at the West household for family dinner. Hartley, feeling like it was time, made a trip to get the ring whilst Barry and Cisco made a trip to Star City.

On the day Barry was set to return to Central City, Hartley set up a laptop at their kitchen table and waited for the sound of Barry's key in the doorway. Hartley waited, working on a new featuring on his gloves as he did until finally he heard the jingle of keys outside.

"Hey Har." Barry smiled, dropping his bag by the door and shrugging off his jacket. "Working on anything?"

"Nothing important." Hartley pushed the gloves to one side and tapped on the computer. "Come watch this for me." Hartley got up from the chair, allowing Barry to sit down. Hartley stood behind him, wrapping his arms around Barry and resting his chin on his shoulder. Barry pressed play and watched as a young boy appeared, speaking about love and relationships and marriage.

"Cute, but I don't understand what this has to..." Barry trailed off as videos began appearing; Caitlin and Cisco, Iris and Joe, Ray, Oliver and Felicity, everyone they knew. Some of the videos talking about Hartley, some about Barry, some about saying 'yes'.

As Hartley felt Barry turn his head, he placed a small kiss on his neck and dropped down onto one knee just in time for Barry to turn around. "Barry Allen... I'd say Bartholomew but I'm scared you'd punch me... I'm so happy you went back in time all those years ago and destroyed all I was meant to be, because if you never did then I wouldn't have had the chance to have the best two years of my life - maybe the best 20 years coming up. Never would have gone on the best first date of my life - German sex is always a must -, I never would have witnessed the greatness that is Iris getting pissed at Jenga. I've spent a lot of my greatest moments on you, Barry, and I hope the other great moments - my wedding, my first child, my first anniversary - will all be spent with you. I spent a lot of time on this, and everyone knows what I'm doing so if you say no, I might just cry of embarrassment.... so, what'd you say? Will you marry me, Barry Allen?"

Barry had cried and flung himself at the smaller man, almost knocking him over as he pressed his lips to Hartley's. Hartley smiled into the kiss, feeling his cheeks going wet by his own tears as he gripped onto Barry like a lifeline.

"I can't believe everyone managed to keep this a secret from me." Barry laughed as they pulled away, drying his tears with his sleeves.

"Almost had to deafen Iris and Ray a few times, but we got there in the end."

 

Nora Rathaway-Allen was the first child to the couple and had vibrant green eyes and long auburn hair that would always be pulled into two braids at either side, falling down her shoulders. Her birth mother had been a young 20 something drinker who was drawn to Barry and Hartley the second she saw them on the adoption website.

She showed a passion for the arts, falling into being a theatre kid, joining the Glee club, spending hours learning the lines to West Side Story, Les Miserables and Rent among others.

Renee Rathaway-Allen came second and had the bright blue eyes with brown hair that she preferred just under shoulder length, sometimes in lose pigtails. She had been born via surrogate mother, with Hartley's DNA.

She followed in both her father's footsteps, taking an interest in science.

Their son, Isaac Rathaway-Allen, came third and had green eyes, brown hair, and was seen as the spitting image of a young Barry Allen. Again, he was born through surrogate mother, this time with Barry's DNA.

He also enjoyed the science in life, however followed in his Aunt Caitlin's shadow, showing an interest in helping others and mending the sick, ultimately becoming a doctor. Of course never being as physically weak as his fathers, he was a valued player on the school basketball team.

Their daughter, Lucie Rathaway-Allen, originally known as Lucie Graffer, came last and had hazel eyes with curled blonde hair. Despite only planning of three children, Lucie Graffer had been brought to the CCPD at the age of seven, with several bruises and evidence of sexual abuse. She had been brought up to Barry in his lab whilst her parents were questioned for their child abuse and Barry fell in love, opting to adopt her as a Rathaway-Allen when the topic came up.

Once coming out of the shell she had pushed herself into early on in her life, she became a cheerleader, wanting to show enthusiasm after what had happened to her as a child, yet she valued knowledge above all and fell down the education route, teaching maths.

Barry and Hartley couldn't be more proud of their little family.

 

Hartley eventually hated the sound of beeping.

At age 76, Barry had fallen victim to a cardiac arrest, the speed of being The Flash eventually catching up to him. Even though the beeping was reminder that Barry was technically alive, all it did was remind Hartley that he didn't have much time left.

Hartley slowly ran his thumb over the back of Barry's hand, admiring their matching silver wedding rings.

He smiled.

"It's been half a century, Bar - since you went back in time and changed me. I still can't thank you enough." Hartley's voice was quiet, hardly above a whisper. But that didn't matter. Nobody else needed to her, only Barry. "You were always so good, so kind, never raised your voice at me or the kids, never stopped when things got hard as The Flash." Hartley licked his lips and looked down at their hands. "The kids; look at where they are because of you. Especially Lucie, saving her from what she couldn't even understand."

Hartley felt his eyes growing wet as he slowly leant over and placed his free hand on Barry's pale cheek. Barry felt cold and it made Hartley shudder. Barry had always been the warm one.

"I don't want to let you go, Bar, I really don't. You're my everything. You've given me the world and never asked for anything back."

Tears fell down Hartley's cheeks as he choked back a sob. His hand shook as he stroke down Barry's cheek bone with his thumb, like Barry had done to him when they had their first kiss 49 years ago.

"I don't want to give you up. I know I'll be there with you eventually. Probably sooner rather than later, but I don't even want to spend a day apart, baby."

Hartley stuttered in a breath and buried his head in his hands and he silently sobbed for his almost dead husband, not ready to let him go yet. After a few minutes, he raised his head and placed one hand back in Barry's, the other back to stroking his cheek.

"I know when you get there you'll be with your father and Joe... and your mother. You'll finally be with Cisco again, two years away from your best friend really damaged you Bar, don't even deny it."

Hartley finally smiled and pressed another kiss to Barry's forehead, some of his tears falling alongside the kiss.

"Love you, Bar. Thanks for all this time - I'll see you soon."

**Author's Note:**

> So, I cried a lot writing this ending, like full blown tears. 
> 
> I also had a laugh including hidden things poking at Grant Gustin (Barry) and Andy Mientus' (Hartley) real life such as;  
> \- Their first date watching Spring Awakening, a show Andy played Hanschen on the national US tour and Broadway Revival.  
> \- Mentioning Jet as their dog, the name of Grant's dog in real life.  
> \- The way Hartley proposing mirroring how Andy proposed to his real life fiancé, Michael Arden.  
> \- Mentioning West Side Story, a show Grant played Baby John on the Broadway Revival.  
> \- Mentioning Les Miserables, a show Andy played Marius on the Broadway Revival.  
> \- Mentioning Glee, a show Grant starred as Sebastian Smythe in. 
> 
> So yeah, if you want more, send in some prompts at: http://someoneyoucantstand.tumblr.com/ask for any relationship in The Flash or Legends of Tomorrow.


End file.
